1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display apparatus that displays Web pages, for example, and that preferentially displays predetermined items in accordance with multiple designated priority conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following first to sixth related art proposed as systems and methods for preferentially displaying predetermined items in accordance with priority conditions.
The first related art is an information system that includes a mobile memory and an information terminal for accessing the mobile memory. By manipulating the operating section of the information terminal, a user can select one of a plurality of choices displayed on a screen, and can search for desired information. In this case, data related to the selection of choices by the user when accessing desired information are stored in the database of the mobile memory, and are employed to prepare a data input history for that user. Thereafter, when the user next employs the information terminal to search for information, the data input history stored in the mobile memory is referred to and employed for a preferential display of previous choices frequently made by the user.
The second related art is a contents pre-read method for employing priority levels of pages at individual linking destinations to determine the order for the pre-reading of the contents of these pages, and for determining priority levels based on past access frequencies (See, for example, JP-A-11-219313.).
The third related art is a screen display control system. According to this system, screen display priorities used for displaying screens are provided in accordance with priority item data selected from a priority display selection menu, data about the date and time where the item was selected, and record data as to when the menu was actually selected. Then, the display positions of the menu items for which the priorities are allocated are changed, and the menu items are thereafter displayed on the screen of the terminal.
The fourth related art is a display method whereby, at the time of an access by a user, a profile of the user is examined and the cursor is positioned at an information element (a hyperlink) of information, which is determined in accordance with the times selected in the past and the tastes exhibited by the user.
The fifth related art is a page pre-read system that includes: a link table, wherein a list of linking destinations for the individual Web pages is entered together with selection frequencies that are based on the previous history; a table updating section, for updating the contents of the link table when a link is selected; and a page pre-reading section for, based on the contents of the link table, pre-reading data at a URL that, in the past, was frequently selected (See, for example, JP-A-11-249823.).
The third related art is a display method whereby, when a Web page is updated, the updated Web page is compared with a cache file, and the updated text data portion is displayed so as to be identified with the other text data portion (See, for example, JP-A-2001-34525.).
JP-A-11-219313, JP-A-11-249823 and JP-A-2001-34525 are referred to as related art.
As the use of portable terminals, such as cellular phones and PDAs, has spread, increasingly there are cases wherein cellular phones are used to browse Web pages via the Internet.
Most of these Web pages are prepared on the assumption that they are to be browsed by apparatuses, such as personal computers, that have large display devices, and thus, are usually not appropriate for reading using portable terminals having only small display sections.
Further, small portable terminals, such as cellular phones, have only limited input means. For a personal computer, it is assumed that a pointing device, such as a mouse, is provided as an input device, while for many cellular phones, only a small number of keys are available for browsing Web pages.
As a method for browsing a large Web page, or an image, using a small screen, a Web page is reduced so that the entire width of the page, or the complete page, can be fitted into the display section.
However, many Web pages are much larger than the display section of a cellular phone.
Therefore, according to this browsing method, when a Web page is reduced so as to fit a display section, the reduction rate is too large for characters on a page to be read.
Furthermore, when a Web page, created for display by a personal computer, is browsed using a cellular phone that has only a small display device, in many cases only a not very important portion (frequently the upper left portion) is initially displayed, and a user must scroll the screen.
Thus, when a user browses a large Web page using a cellular phone, the user, in order to read information outside the display range of the display section, must scroll the screen by pressing a key many times. This is a disadvantage, in that the user is forced to repeatedly perform a troublesome operation.
Therefore, the above described methods are proposed for preferentially displaying predetermined items in accordance with a priority order.
However, according to the related art for displaying items in priority order, since priorities are allocated in accordance with historical selection times and access frequencies, a highly important item of information, truly needed by a user, is not always displayed. Further, this related art can not provide a mechanism for displaying, when no information element is available that satisfies the requirements for an item of the highest priority, displaying an information element of the second highest priority.
Further, there is a case wherein an information element that on a specific page is granted the highest priority is not even present on another page, and one wherein an information element that on a specific page has a low priority has the highest on another page. However, according to the related art, depending on the situation, priorities can not be designated and these demands can not be coped with.
That is, the related art can not display information that initially is highly important to a user, so that the user either has trouble identifying useful data, or must perform a troublesome scroll operation. Therefore, a disadvantage of the related art is that necessary information can not be displayed rapidly.